Ball



P. DROHNN Sept. 12, 1933.

BALL

Filed Aug. l, 1928 Patented Sept. l2, 1933 TES UNITED y PATENT erica t ain Ge Y This invention relates to footballs or the like. Such balls canonly be kicked accurately if they are absolutely round. The new ballfulls this condition in a very high degree.

According to the invention the outer cover has no opening for theintroduction of the bladder, lso that there is also no lacing required,which would prevent the ball being round. A further vobject of theinvention is the provision of means for maintaining the bladder in around form by reinforcing covers, so that it cannot change its shapeeven when in use. A further object of the invention consists in apeculiar way of introducing the air into the bladder.

In the accompanying drawing several constructional examples of theinvention are illustrated.

Fig. 1 shows how the bladder is enclosed in its reinforcing covers andits outer cover. u

Fig. 2 shows in section to an enlarged scale a portion of the bladderwith a place for the introduction of the air.

Figs. 3 and 4 show two'further arrangements for introducing air into thebladder.

Fig. 5 is a hollow needle for use in inating the new ball.

Fig. 6 shows the nished ball with the various covering layers partlyexposed, and

Figs. 7 and 8 show diagraatically how the various covers are produced.

According to the invention the rubber bladder A has no valve opening ofany hind. it is provided with internal means for sealing leakages. Thebladder is inflated by means oi' a hollow needle l which pierces thewall o f the bladder and is adapted to be screwed to a pump. @n theneedle being withdrawn, the means referred to seal the puncture in thewall of the bladder automatically. For this purpose the bladder A isprovided, as shown in Fig. 2, on the inside with a boss 2 which is cutout below to form a. hollow space 5.- This bossf2 forms the piercingplace for the ne i referred to, with which the wall 9 has to be freshlypierced each time the ball is inated. into the hollow space 5 of theboss 2, which is openv at the bottom, a mixture oi non-porous granulesand a solution having no action on rubber, for instance melted rubber,is introduced, the said mixture being prevented from falling out of thehollow space 5 by a rubber, leather or the like woven fabric disc 3,which closes the hollow space from below. The needle l pierces throughthe said mixture and the disc 3 and, on being with= drawn, it draws agranule from the more or less sticky mass in front of orinto the piercedhole, thereby sealing it hermetically.

(mi T23-5) Apressed on a woden model of the size and shape August y9,1927 According to the constructional form shown in Fig. 3 theself-sealing granular mixture accordlng to Fig. 2 is replaced by anon-return valve 4 of any suitable kind, which is placed on the lowervend of the boss 2. In this case the needle is only kinserted as far asthe interior of the hollow space 5, for instance, until it reaches ametal protective plate 6. As shown in Fig. 4l, in addition to theprovision of the :hon-return valve 4 the hollow space 5 may be filledwith the mixture referred to above.

Such a bladder A is coyered, as indicated in Fig. 1, by a plurality oicovers of Woven fabric in the following manner: the bladder A isinflated to the desired size and pressure. Two, for instancehemispherical, pieces of material Ia and Ib are thereupon placed roundthe bladder and hired to it by an adhesive'. These riieces of materialfor instance linen or the like are previously of the bladder say by thepiece of material being stretched, as shown in Fig. "I, between twoboards 14 and 15 having a round opening 13 into which a wooden ball 7 isforced, the ball forcing the material downwards through the opening andgiving it a hemispherical shape (Fig. 8). It is obvious that the threads-in the fabric will be stretched and will therefore subsequently, whenthe fabric has been stuck on to the bladder, not be able to give-anymore under the action of kicks, when the ball is being used. Thus, Iaand Ib form a cover I which is rmly united with the bladder. Over thiscover a second cover of fabric consisting of the halves IIa and 11b isstuck with adhesive in such a manner that the threads of the cover Hcross the threads of the cover I. l

In the drawing this is indicated by shading which is intended to showthe position of the warp threads 'm the fabric. Furthermore, the twohalves IIa and IIb are stuck on in such a manner that their joint isoffset with respect to the joint of the half covers Ia and fb. In asimilar manner a further cover composed of the halves Illu and mb isstuck over the .cover l1 and a cover IVa and IVb over the cover ma andlEliIb. The threads of two contiguous fabric covers always cross oneanother and the joints where theedges of the half covers meet are ineveryv case odset with respect to one another. In this way a ball isproduced the wall of which is practically without a joint and is ofequal strength all over' in the rnanner of plywood lstructures, so thateven the severest blows cannot change the shape of the ball, causing itto become non-spherical. More or less than four covers of material canof course be stuck on the, bladder. The manner of attaching the partsofthe covers as described has the advantage that the spherical shape iscontinuously corrected. Instead of hemispheres, any other portions ofspheresmay of course be used. The ball produced in this man-V ner isgiven a final cover of some resistant material, preferably leather orthe like, as this is better qualified than rubber to withstand the greatvfriction on the ground to which such a ball subjected. Parts of anysuitable shape, for

producing a spherical cover may be used. In the example shown, twohemispherical portions B1, B2, analogous to the fabric covers, areformed from leather by pressure. The edges 10 and l1 of the parts areoverlapped and stuck together With adhesive. For this purpose the edgesl0, 1l are skived in such a manner that, when slipped one over theother, they do not exceed the thickness of the 'remainder of the wall ofthe cover, as shown to the left in Fig. 6. The edgeslo, 11 after beingslipped one over the other and afterbeing preferably roughened'are stucktogether with rubber solution and the like. When rubber solution isused, the joint may easily :be vulcanized with a sulphur solution by acold process.

The new ball is practically without joints and projections and istherefore absolutely smooth and round, and it cannot loseV its roundshape, as the fabric covers I to IV absolutely prevent this.-

If the bladder is not to be provided with one of the well known selfsealing means, but with a boss 2 for piercing with the needle l, asshown in Figs. 2 to e, the place to be pierced must be marked ontheleather cover B, for instance by a cut in circle l2 (Fig. 6), withinwhich the needle l is inserted, the walls of theA covers I to IV and theboss 9 being pierced by the needle.

What l claim is:

l. A ball, comprising in combination a bladder and a plurality ofdivided superposed coversof textile material for the said bladder, theparts of the covers being previously blocked to shape so that theirthreads are in tension and being so positioned with respect to oneanother that their warp threads cross one another and their joints areoffset with respect to one another, as and for the purpose set forth.

. 2. A bau, comprising in combination a. bladder,

. having no valve opening, self-sealing means within the bladder,consisting of a mixture of "non-porous granules and a solution whichdoes not attack rubber, and a plurality of divided superposed covers oftextile material for the said bladder, the covers being so positionedwith respeot to one another that their warp threads i cross one anotherand their joints are oiiset with respect to one another, as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. A ball, comprising in combination a bladder, having no `valveopening, self-sealing means within the bladder, consisting of a mixtureof non-porous granules and liquefied rubber, and a plurality of dividedsuperposed covers of textile material for the said bladder, the coversbeing so positioned with respect to one another that their warp threadscross one another and their joints are oset with respect to one another,as and .for the purpose set forth.

4. A ball, comprising in combination a bladder and aplurality of dividedsuperposed covers of textile material and an outer `divided covering ofleather for the said bladder, the covers consisting each'ofhemispherical pressed portions and being so positioned with respect toone anothenthat their warp threads cross one another and their jointsare offset with respect to one another, as and for the purpose setforth.

5. A-ball, comprising in combination a bladder,

and a plurality of divided superposed covers of textile material formedby pressing into the shape of a part of a spherical surface, the coversbeing so positioned with respect to one another that their warp threadscross one another and their joints are offset with respect to oneanother.

l6. A' ball comprising a bladder, an inwardly directed valve thereon,which is adapted to close of itself when a hollow needle used forintroducing air is withdrawn, a plurality of layers of fabric, sopositioned with respect to one another that the warp threads of, onelayer cross the warp threads of another layer, and the joints of onelayer are olset with respect to those of another layer, forming acompact casing oi woven material completely enclosing the ball andleaving no opening for the valve.

PAUL DROHNN.

